Strategic Omissions
by Stargazer at Moonlight
Summary: G1, Prime, Bayformers. Prowl is Spec Ops, charged with the undercover mission of infiltrating Tactics with a mech masquerading as his lover to transmit information, but he's left behind on Cybertron after attaining his rank and almost revealing his former occupation and is also separated from the mech that was his lover. Prowl x Jazz – Prowl x Twins – Twins x Prowl x Jazz
1. Chapter 1

_**Strategic Omissions: Chapter One**_

_**Twins x Prowl x Jazz**_

**Characters: **Prowl, OCs (Blacklight, Slipstreak, Inclement, SpotOn), Knock Out, Scrapper, Hood, Scavenger, Mixmaster, LongHaul, Soundwave and cassettes

**Rating: **T

**Words: **2187

**Summary: **Prowl is Spec Ops, charged with the undercover mission of infiltrating Tactics with a mech masquerading as his lover to transmit information, but he's left behind on Cybertron after attaining his rank and almost revealing his former occupation and is also separated from the mech that was his lover. Prowl x Jazz – Prowl x Twins – Twins x Prowl x Jazz

**Pre-Story Author's Note:** There will be a lot of time skips in this story, but should mainly be between chapters and not in them, except for this one since it's just scenes from random times in Prowl's development. Reviews and the like are extremely welcome since I'm not quite entirely sure of this idea or how it will play out.

* * *

A slightly built black and white mechling looked up at his Carrier with a rather blank faceplate – unusual for one so young to have already learned. He didn't know what exactly had just happened, but his Creator had just slapped his Carrier and stormed out after reading the data pad that the medic that had given him his upgrades had handed him. Slipstreak, his Carrier, frowned after the black and purple mech before looking at the results displayed on the screen that she had picked up and turned so that she could read it. The information astounded her since: A) Blacklight wasn't listed as her mechling's Sire, but was her Bonded – something she had expected, B) the mechling had some kind of systems glitch that she regarded with no little amount of disgust, and C) she didn't even read as being his Carrier though she quite clearly had been – she had the spark scarring to prove it. The listed Sire was one Inclement, who she was intimately familiar with, and the listed Carrier was one SpotOn, who she was quite clearly not since she had sparked - something that femmes were unable to do together but mechs were capable of, and SpotOn was listed as a femme. How that happened, only Primus knew. Had Blacklight been cheating on her just as she had been cheating on him? Had those two's spark energies somehow merged together within a sparkmerge between the bondmates to create the coding for this youngling?

The youngling looked up at her again after having lowered his faceplate to examine the joins between the plates of the metal floor. He had no idea what was happening as his processors were not quite developed enough to register or understand a lot of the words or looks used, but he had a peculiar feeling that nothing was going in his favor at that particular moment. Creator had never been abusive to his Carrier before in front of him, so something was going on and it had most likely come about because of that data pad. He edged back towards the medic as his Carrier looked up at him again, his little wing nubs flicking about in muted distress at her dark look. The degree of analysis in his thoughts never even gave him pause as it was how he had always thought and he had never suspected that his were any different from the other younglings he was around on a normal basis since it was only in this newly upgraded and scanned frame that he would begin learning how to talk and structure his sentences. The orn care workers had commented on his deductive abilities, but that was not overly uncommon in young sparklings as they all learned quickly – he was just quicker than most others.

"We don't want him. He has neither of our coding, so why _would_ we? Give him away to the first couple you see," she spat, standing to leave and began walking briskly to the exit, anger and rage permeating her being which was easy to tell since her frame was extremely rigid and was moving jerkily, surprising the medic as he was expecting the femme to only be upset but not _leave her youngling behind!_ He didn't want the responsibility of caring for one!

"I still need to be paid! His upgrades weren't exactly that easy!" the medic protested, following after the femme with waving arms and an outraged air about him.

She turned sharply and threw a credit chip at the mainly red mech. "Here's your fraggin' payment! Just keep that _thing_ out of my sight! He's no youngling of mine!"

The little doorwinger glanced around himself, taking in his surroundings in relation to his newly greater height as his Carrier left him behind. The slight bond he had still shared with his Creators was now severed, but it had never really affected him in the first place since they had been present so weakly. If that data pad had told them that they weren't his true Creators, he could have told them that since he had never reacted to their attempts to calm him using only the bond as strongly as he should have. It had surprised him that they hadn't ever figured out that there was something wrong with their connection. Even the orn care center workers knew that there was something off since neither Blacklight or Slipstreak had been able to just walk over and pick him up out of the crowd but had stopped and looked around the room before picking him out of the mechlings there. In fact, he had been painted black and white for just that reason, so he stood out from the others. Most sparklings were colorful since their Creators wanted them in bright, happy colors as it was said to influence their moods. He had never seen where it had worked since many of them were bullies and not happy like they should be.

The sporty red mech looked at what was apparently supposed to be his new ward. He had no idea what he was going to do with the little thing since he ran a _clinic_ in downtown _Kaon_. It was not the best place to raise a sparkling in the best of times, which was not at that point in time with all of the riots, knifings, shootings, and accidents of all kinds happening as often as they had started to.

"Well, little one. Looks like it's just you and me now. At least I got the credits from your caretakers." He paused, "By the way, my designation is Knock Out."

He looked up at the red opticked mech and hesitantly reached out a hand to grasp his forearm. The little doorwinger needed at least a little bit of stability at that time, even if it was only in the physical sense.

"Just watch the finish, little one. We'll get you painted and learning everything in no time."

Prowl clicked and whirred at him for a short moment as he carefully cuddled into the red plating, being extra sure to not leave any scuffs or scratches since he had been asked as he knew that his developing chevron was really sharp. He'd sliced the plating on his fingers open often enough to know.

"You know, I even contacted your two listed Creators to see if they would take you, but they actually had dissolved their bond over their cheating a few orns before this and didn't want you. You'd be too much of a reminder of that, I guess. Too bad since you're such a cute little thing."

* * *

"I really think that KO regrets letting us train you, little one," Scrapper muttered as he rubbed the mechling's bright chevron, keeping it away from his sensitive neck cables at the same time since the mechling still enjoyed curling up against him like he had when he had first been allowed into the gestalt's care. The medic wasn't always able to watch him like he should and had turned to some of the mechs that he knew early in the mechling's development so that he wouldn't be neglected. As a plus, they'd all agreed to teach him something they thought that he should know about – not that the medic knew what was all being taught to the tiny doorwinger, he would have thrown a fit if he did know.

"Naw, Scrappah. 'E's ratha happeh that Ah'm helpin' him fix up 'is clinic. 'E's gotta do tha labah, but i's gettin' there. Not that 'e knows that Mixah is teachin' meh abou' incendiareh devicehs an' acids an' bases. 'E wouldn' be happeh 'bout that."

_No sane Creator would be_, he thought as he glanced over at Mixmaster, sending subtle reproach over their bond. "But he likes what Hook and Scavenger are teaching you, yes?"

"O' course. Scavenjah helps meh wit' identifyin' da metals and stuff 'e needs and 'ook is realleh good at da whole perfectionism thin' like KO is. 'E even lahkes LongHaul since 'e shows meh how ta do good papahwork. KO don' lahke doin' dat."

Scrapper chuckled, his frame vibrating with the low noise and gently shaking the much smaller mech in his lap with the movement. Something melted inside of the green and purple chassis as the youngling looked up at him through bright, happy optics much different from what they had been like when he was first introduced to the mechs that formed Devastator. At that time he had been a very closed off, scared, and wary mechling that analyzed everything before deciding on a course of action. Though he still did so for the most part, he also chose to act impulsively around those that he had come to know. Hook had a feeling that it was because they were relatively known variables and Prowl was able to guess easily as to what their respective reactions would be. It seemed true since, when they took him out to a park, he was wary around strangers but would play freely and with abandon when alone or away from the other mechlings. They all found it rather strange but had come to expect it of the little one that they were allowed to mentor.

"Ah t'ink KO is gonna be here soon. Ah'll meet 'im at da door since Mixah is gonna be doin' somet'in' 'e ain' gonna wanna see happenin' neah meh. Will see ya all next orn or so. And try ta keep Hook from gettin' too enthralled wit' 'is new projec'."

* * *

Soundwave looked around his small apartment carefully before settling his optics on the scene that he had walked in on just a short moment ago. His oldest creation, Ravage, lay curled around a small Praxian doorwinger frame with the avian twins perched on the back of the couch behind her. The little black and white mechling was nuzzling up against the feline in his recharge while the panther steadily purred her engine. He stepped silently over to his creations and lightly patted them each in turn before moving on and into the small kitchenette to get a cube of energon from the dispenser. He also made sure to grab a small one of enriched fuel for Prowl since he was able to feel the changes in processor activity signaling that he was coming out of recharge and would soon be looking for a little bit to give him some more energy since his tanks were as yet too small to hold a large enough amount to power him throughout the entire orn from infrequent fuellings.

"Recharge: satisfactory?" the tape deck inquired as he seated himself on the far end of the couch just as the mechling finished coming out of a post-recharge haze.

"Mmmm…. Yeah. Was good," his muffled voice said as he burrowed his faceplates further into the panther's plating, trying to deny that he had to get up.

"Good. Requirements: energon. After: return to Knock Out's clinic. Orn: fun?"

Prowl reached for the small cube of energon as he sat up, rubbing at his slightly hazy optics. "Ah'm goin' back dis soon?"

"Next stay: longer. Knock Out: agrees. Also: new paint job. Paints: acquiring early next orn."

The mechling's optics brightened as they looked up at him over the rim of the cube. He had been looking forward to having his colors redone since he had found out that they could be. What he didn't know was what they were going to be changed to.

"Colors: burgundy and aqua. Chevron: remains red. Red: matches optics."

He grinned up at the tape deck. "And dey look good togetha, righ'?"

* * *

He looked up at his guardian as the plating was replaced over the wires and cables of his lower leg where he had somehow snapped some kind of wire. It was a total accident since he had no idea how it had happened, but after a vorn of living with the red medic he was rather accustomed to pain of varying degrees and hadn't even uttered a peep about his injury until they had returned to the clinic after playing in the park for a while – longer than they normally stayed there as Scavenger had engaged him in a game of hide and seek that he had eagerly participated in.

"You need to tell me when something happens to you, Prowl. This injury could have become much worse than it was – which it thankfully wasn't. You need to be in top condition and take care of yourself. Primus smiles on the well-repaired and kept up. Keep that in your processor." He sighed lowly, knowing that it wasn't going to happen. The mechling always seemed to avoid getting his injuries fixed until he wasn't busy any longer. "In any case, there are two upgrades ready for your frame. There's a retractable visor and I also now have the wires I need to allow you to change your optic color. I've even been able to make sure that you can still use them in whatever form you decide to take on."

* * *

**Post-Story Author's Note: **Most of Prowl's history will be explained in later chapters, but I mainly just wanted to give a taste of the mechs that he grew up around and the skills that he would have learned at a young age that affect him later in life. I may also just start a little fic that is only for his sparkling/youngling moments in this AU. The next chapter is after a pretty significant time skip and set during his time as a Spec Ops agent and the beginning of his undercover mission. This chapter will probably not be elaborated on any more, so if there is anything added to his sparklinghood than it will be in a separate little fic. It may be a fic that is just for random little things from any character in this AU though. ^^


	2. Chapter 2

_**Strategic Omissions: Chapter Two**_

_**Twins x Prowl x Jazz**_

**Characters: **Prowl, unnamed Decepticons, OC (Scuttle), Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, mentions of Smokescreen though he is unnamed, unnamed Autobots, Jazz/Ellipse

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 2882

**Summary: **Prowl is Spec Ops, charged with the undercover mission of infiltrating Tactics with a mech masquerading as his lover to transmit information, but he's left behind on Cybertron after attaining his rank and almost revealing his former occupation and is also separated from the mech that was his lover. Prowl x Jazz – Prowl x Twins – Twins x Prowl x Jazz

**Pre-Story Author's Note:** There's a bit of a time skip in this that leaves out the trip back to the Autobot base and his introduction into the ranks of Tactical. I didn't deem it critical.

* * *

Light thrown off from the sparks generated as he welded a patch over a torn line faintly illuminated his rusty surroundings. The abandoned building he was hiding in provided little to no cover and he was capitalizing on the fact that the 'Cons knew this and never thought to check it for threats. After all, he'd hidden there several times before in plain sight and nobot had noticed him. Prowl had been suspicious of this until he figured out that this base was mainly comprised of front-line troops that were being shuffled around constantly and they had never been trained to really _look_ at anything with their optics except for data pads and socially – mainly paint jobs. Spec Ops, tacticians, and snipers had been though. He even knew of a set of twin front liners that had trained themselves to outside of a social setting.

He cursed lowly as the pain beat down his temporary firewall against it. Thankfully his hand had remained steady and had not veered by a millimeter. That would have caused much more damage to his frame than what had already been done.

Back-up had probably already been called to extract him or any information his frame contained. He was most of an orn overdue by now judging by the time listed on his chronometer from when he had said he would meet the transport. That couldn't be good, but he still counted the mission a success since it was well within the parameters given to him by the Head of Ops. After all, he'd been the one to call for a pick up at the rendezvous point.

He hummed a quiet tune to himself as he finished his repairs and looked around his hiding place again. The black and white mech would soon be reverting to his normal colors since they blended in with his surroundings better and his original frame type would feel much more comfortable to his spark. Not seeing or sensing any bot near, he willed his frame to shift. It wasn't just a transformation into alt mode, but a shifting of his armor plates back into their original configuration. That was the original reason the Enforcers of a different city had snapped him up off the streets after the medic in charge of his care had joined the Decepticons and left him behind to fend for himself. He had been doing fine living on his own, but he had to admit that not having to steal his energon and also being able to keep his frame in peak condition was nice and very enjoyable. Prowl had even been able to get help in cleaning the hard-to-reach joins of his back plates from a mech that knew his frame type. The youngling he had been at the time was willing to join the undercover agents right then and there without even finding out what it was about just for those reasons. Living with Knock Out had been a lesson in cleanliness, 'face appeal, and perfectionism. It had also been a study in becoming slightly masochistic since his caretaker was a bit of a sadist. It was an accepted practice on Cybertron for a youngling to be taught about interfacing by his guardian or Creators and other trusted adult-framed Cybertronians. That was the reason he was not masochistic enough to want to be almost mutilated. Soundwave and the Constructicons had a far different view on pleasure than Knock Out did and had made sure that he knew that there were other options available to him.

"Might as well get moving," he muttered, subspacing the welder and flicking his doorwings before flaring them widely to gather data. Surprisingly enough, there were no spark signatures nearby and the air currents were normal, not having to curve around mech frames. "This is far too easy."

Choosing to forego his normal escape strategy of scuttling from one bolt hole to a hiding place and on to the next, he strode confidently out of his spot and down the well-used patrol path. If they had trapped the area, they wouldn't use their own trail to set them on. They had to continue using it for patrols, after all, and the commander of this particular 'Con base was nowhere near the smartest mech he had ever pitted his wits against. He had left too many hints as to his plans for the next battle. Of course, he didn't know that his frame was bugged or that, even if the medic caught it, he'd assume that it was 'Con tech and placed there by higher-ups. Prowl made sure to cover his tracks. And it had helped that he had been trained by the premier 'Con engineers for a little while and been able to study some more under and Autobot one for a time.

He was actually a little let down by the time he made it to the rendezvous point. Nobot had shot at him and there had been no confrontations with the mechs he had passed. Sure, he had a 'Con signal on his frame for this mission, but there had been no comment on anything, even as he did rounds like any normal bot stationed there. He actually was almost pouting as he boarded the Autobot vessel.

"Nothing happened, did it?" Scuttle asked as he caught sight of his youngest operative. Being barely into his first upgraded adult frame made him one of the youngest in any division of the Autobot faction.

"No."

The Head of the Ops division sighed, shaking his helm. Sometimes Prowl was just a mech of contradictions. He planned everything carefully enough that nothing would happen, but got upset when nothing did. "I've got you another mission. I'm not sure how long this one will last either, but you won't be changing your paint colors any time soon."

His doors raised a small fraction, showing that he was listening closely to what his superior had to say. This sounded close to what he did for a living not too long ago. Undercover missions were his specialty.

"Tactics has a snitch. I know you've been looking over past battles and examining what could have been done differently."

"Who's my contact?" It wasn't like he could report to Scuttle if he was working undercover, especially as a new recruit to the tactical office with one of those mechs working for the 'Cons. He'd blow his cover quicker than one could say 'traitor'.

"His designation is going to be Ellipse, but you would know him better as Jazz. And you will have to at least pretend that you're lovers or very close friends for the duration of this."

Prowl's distaste was clear. His contact was going to be the newest operative they had. He had yet to even be sent into enemy territory and was being entrusted with this type of mission. All Prowl could hope for was that the mech didn't bungle this.

"You're also going back to using Prowl as your designation instead of ShadowStroke. Sparkling records are hard to fake."

The black and white glanced up at the blue mech sharply. "I don't even know who SpotOn or Inclement were since Blacklight and Slipstreak weren't my true Creators."

"That's why your records were altered to read as you being given to them as your caretakers."

"At least Slipstreak worked with data analyses, then. And wasn't SpotOn supposed to have been a tactician?" At Scuttle's confirmation, he muttered, "I guess that's why Knock Out was rather overjoyed with my development. Fraggin' thing was building itself."

"What thing?"

The doorwinger looked at his boss. "Stays between us?"

"Stays between us," the blue mech confirmed, situating himself in the pilot's chair and readying for takeoff. He never really liked surprises, but this sounded like it was going to be one in his favor, so he was willing to let it slide.

"My frame built a tactical computer as it developed. That's probably why I'm a bit smaller than your average doorwing model."

"Even better for your mission then, but you'll have to bungle your way through some of the tests you face. Can't be letting them know that you're fully combat-trained and have experience and the like."

"What do you take me for? A rookie?"

* * *

Getting accepted into the tactical office had been so easy it was criminal. They just took any bot that had a bit of ability to crunch numbers. If he hadn't known better he would have thought he was applying for a job as an accountant since the numbers had been presented so unemotionally and they had been asked a series of questions about their analyses. None of them had seemed affected by what they were telling them and, even when he looked closely, he could see no hint that they cared about the lives they were losing.

He sat there, rather disgruntled, as he sipped his ration of energon. It wasn't nearly enough for a mech with his design. Scuttle had thankfully hooked him up with a mech to supply him with a very fine mid-grade every orn so he wouldn't go into stasis from too little energy. He already knew the mech from the Spec Ops division since his twin was an agent and wasn't allowed on missions unless the red mech was also on them. The doorwinger already knew that that one was trouble, but he enjoyed his time spent with the golden twin. He had been surprised to learn that they were undercover in the frontlines since most of those mechs were loyal to the core, but there had been a leak from the ranking officers in that division not long before one cropped up in tactical. That mission was still underway and he was also supposed to pass their intelligence onto Scuttle through Jazz.

Already he knew that the snitch in Tactical was a higher-up. It had been easy to eliminate the data crunchers since none of them were privy to which plan was selected from those submitted as considerations. They would only find out after the fact. In the meantime, they bet on whose plan would be chosen and how effectively it would be implemented. Rather disgusting in his opinion, but he wasn't about to stop them. It at least kept them from being too nosy about new recruits. They were more interested in their winnings since there were enough battles to keep them constantly coming up with a new strategy or battle plan or even a counter-offensive against the 'Cons. He had looked the last ones submitted over. There was only one or two ideas that were worthy of consideration but, with his knowledge, he knew that they would probably not be considered seriously. 'Con agents always wanted more casualties in his experience.

His optics tracked a silver frame through the common rec room as it moved from one group of mechs to the next. This was the mech that was supposed to be his contact, he knew. Scuttle had given him a file on the mech and Prowl was quite sure that he could come to like the mech, but not so sure he could do so quickly. There were far too many differences between them and their origins to find much common ground like he and Sunstreaker had easily been able to do. The twins had grown up in the same area and had much the same experiences as he had, but had very different skill sets than he did since he had never had the mass to go with brute force, but had worked extensively with his processor and other abilities that he had been taught or discovered. They found that the ones they had were complimentary – something even Scuttle agreed on – and were soon on missions together, though that had ended about a vorn before the twins had begun their undercover mission.

The one thing that he found surprising about his contact was that he didn't resemble the mech that he knew as Jazz since, even with the same color scheme and personality, his frame was entirely different. It had to be a reformat since he knew that Jazz was not able to sorcel – he knew instinctively when a bot could since they had been built to recognize each other. The ability was rare and was only passed down through the family that a mech was from, of which there were very few. Every other mech with the ability wanted to pass the ability on to future generations, so there was a kind of pact of non-aggression between them all regardless of faction. Scuttle knew this and actually understood – he was one of them after all.

"So that's who your new berthmate is gonna be?" the yellow frontliner asked as he lounged in the booth that they occupied so he would be able to pass the mid-grade on to him.

Prowl shot him a disgruntled look. "I would rather choose my own berthmates."

"Of course you would, Prowlah. All of us do. Ya gotta admit that he ain't bad lookin' though and that ya wouldn't mind that frame in ya berth at another time."

He nodded calmly, his attention focused on the hip plates and small doorwings of the mech he would know as Ellipse. "I give you that one, but this isn't his true frame either. The colors are correct, but he was reformatted at some point recently."

"So he can't sorcel like you do? That's gonna be hard on him, havin' to be reformatted all the time."

"Unless he has developed the ability to do so since the last time that I was near him – which was only a couple of orns ago – then he is unable to."

They talked freely, having made sure that the area around them was not bugged when they had first selected this booth. Sideswipe had been an adequate distraction to allow them to check, but there had been nothing to get rid of. That was a good thing as a suddenly quiet area in a place that a mech knew he had placed bugs and was always rather loud would attract attention – and not the good kind. If they had found any, they would have just moved on so as not to be investigated.

Sunstreaker whistled lowly. "Try not to wear him out too much." At the doorwinger's glare directed his way, he raised his hands in surrender. "Sides and I know how ya are in the berth – which we thoroughly enjoy – and he seems like the type to just jump straight into the berth."

"I am not."

The yellow twin snorted. "Sure ya aren't."

"You two are just different. And we grew up in the same area so ya all understood what I needed better than anyone else did." He shrugged. "Not many with my frame type are into that sort of thing."

* * *

A silver frame slid into the seat next to him when he next went to refuel. This was a bit quick, but he shrugged it off. They did need to have an established relationship before he could start passing information to the Ops division so that his current bosses in Tactical weren't too suspicious.

"'Ey, good lookin'. Ya mind if Ah sit here?"

The black and white doorwinger raised an optic ridge at the slightly larger mech next to him. "I have no objection."

"Ya got no objection? Dat don' mean ya want meh here though."

He chuckled lowly at the truth in the mech's words. "That is true, but you are welcome to stay where you are at. What are you doing here for the Autobot faction?"

"Ya know, mech, ya're verreh formal. Ah'll tell ya though. Ah'm s'posed ta be workin' in Supplies. Gotta keep ev'rehbot readeh and able ta defend, ya know."

A mech came up to them just then and placed a hand on Prowl's shoulder, earning himself a heated glare from both doorwingers that had him quickly retracting his appendage from where it was placed. "The boss needs you at his office, Prowl. He wants to go over one of your plans and there was also something said about the higher-ups wanting a battlefield tactician. You may be in line for some more upgrades."

Prowl's pumps stalled out for a split second – not long enough for any outside of Ops to notice – as he stood to follow the mech out of the rec room. He wasn't frightened of being out on the battlefield or even directing troops on one, but if his mission was compromised somehow he was not going to be a happy mech. Having upgrades could do that since he had just gotten some that were rated only for Ops mechs. He was sure that Scuttle could come up with something, but he had to know first. He flicked his slightly clawed fingers at Ellipse in a signal about upgrades, there being a particular motion that meant that out in the field since knowing whether the mechs they were pitting themselves against had them or not could mean the difference between the degree of injuries or even deactivation. An almost unnoticeable nod from Ellipse gave him the knowledge that the Head of Ops would soon be in the know on this update.

* * *

**Post-Story Author's Note: **Reviews are always awesome and are also motivation. I would love it if anyone who reads this would tell me what kind of scenes they would like to see from this AU as 'outtakes' in a way. I would like to have a few suggestions before I start posting a kind of companion fic to this that is full of those types of scenes. I also love hearing what anybody thinks will happen next. Some of them are kind of inspiring. I also don't know how I finished this chapter and the first this quickly, but I hope to keep some momentum on this fic and my others. Thanks for reading!


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